12 April 2012
Local Knowledge No.1 --- Pistol Pete Sampras
By Tom Nash on
Such was Sampras' dominance through the nineties at Wimbledon that he's considered an one-man era. Before him, the late eighties /early nineties champs such as Michael Stich, Stefan Edberg and Boris Becker; and after him the modern era of Federer, Nadal and others. Aside from his quarter final defeat in 1996 to Dutch Destroyer Richard Krajicek, which can be considered a blip, Sampras won the singles titles at Wimbledon in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000.
All top tennis players have a weapon. For Becker it was dominance at the net, for Ivanisevic a huge serve, Nadal has powerful baseline strokes, and for McEnroe and Connors sheer mental strength and competitiveness was their weapon. A weapon is something special about a player that would guarantee a few easy points to get out of trouble of push home an advantage for a break of serve. During the nineties, Sampras' finest weapon at Wimbledon was often simply his name. A player could have the season of their careers and yet when drawn against Sampras on the grass courts of SW19, defeat was almost inevitable. Whilst never one to swagger, Sampras arrived year after year as reigning champion and world number 1, many opponents in early rounds were beaten before they'd picked up their racquet, awed by the invincible aura of Pete Sampras.
Sampras won when injured, he won when out of form, he won all but one of his matches at Wimbledon in 7 years. Towards the end of the decade, Wimbledon became almost processional, Sampras just couldn't be stopped. Sampras ruled the courts with ruthless efficiency. His grouchy nature, ability to grind out results with little flourish, and seemingly emotionless, businesslike style of tennis won over few neutral fans, and a sort of backlash against the Champ developed. British crowds have always loved an underdog, and during his pomp, everyone who played Sampras at Wimbledon was an underdog. When his great rival Andre Agassi made it through the stages to face him on Centre Court for the 1999 final, all but the ardent Pistol Pete fans were rooting for the more charismatic American, eager for someone to break the shut-out that Sampras had affected. But 1999 final against Andre Agassi was perhaps his finest moment at the championships. A resurgent Agassi had fought his way back from 141 in the rankings and had won on the clay in France that year. He was the crowd's darling, and presented what on paper was Pete's toughest challenge since Krajicek. A wobbly start belied the crushing victory that was to ensue. Sampras simply took Agassi to bits, he was untouchable. A straight sets demolition job silenced Agassi's legion of fans. Beating Agassi in 1999 moved Sampras onto 6 titles ahead of Borg, and he would collect another to leave him top of the all-time records at the Wimbledon Championships.
Sampras' airborne overhead smash became one of the iconic images of sport in the decade, and one of the most demoralising experiences of anyone the other side of the net to him. His aerial ability, coupled with an incredible serve (He was known to produce aces on his second serve), and one of the best running forehands ever seen in tennis made Sampras perfect for the fast grass courts of Wimbledon. His contribution to the history of the All England Lawn Tennis Club will never be forgotten and he is one of the sport's greatest champions.
Ignoring a second round loss to George Bastl in 2002, Sampras' last significant act at Wimbledon was to usher in the next great era. In the forth round of the 2001 competition, Sampras came up against a rather bulky 19 year old that he'd never played before. An aging champion losing to a young hotshot is often one of the sadder scenes in tennis, but there was a class to the youngster in his shot variety and the way he carried himself. His name? Roger Federer.